


Molt

by BuffyRowan



Category: Person of Interest (TV)
Genre: Gen, Not Season/Series 03 Compliant
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-02
Updated: 2014-03-02
Packaged: 2018-01-14 08:41:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 494
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1260070
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BuffyRowan/pseuds/BuffyRowan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Harold muses in some changes in John.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Molt

**Author's Note:**

> I have not been able to watch season 3, and only recently got my hands on the DVDs of season 2. This is my idea of what might happen as John and Harold return to doing what they do after the reboot, after they've dropped Root in the psychiatric facility.

It shouldn't have been as disconcerting as he found it. After all, he himself had a predilection for changing identities faster than other people changed their socks, and with as little thought to the matter. But those identities were really simply watered-down versions of himself. Similar interests, clothing, really it was more the name that changed than anything else. In contrast, after returning from Washington John had shed elements of his persona like a snake shedding a too-tight skin. 

The CIA, Decima, the NYPD, they were all looking for "The Man in the Suit," so John had abandoned the suits. He wore dark washed jeans, button down shirts in muted colors with a blazer or jacked, and ankle boots. Where before he'd kept clean shaven, now John wore carefully shaped stubble. John had also let his hair grow, not much, not even an inch, but the style was now completely different. Harold knew the science behind it, but was still unnerved by how much difference a subtle change made. While it wouldn't fool facial recognition programs, Harold often found himself taking a few seconds longer to identify John in a crowd.

When John started introducing himself differently, Harold was startled. Before the reset, the name "John" had been the one really point of stability among the various cover identities. Much the way Harold kept his first name, it wasn't perhaps the best choice to keep using the same name, but that one small piece helped keep them from losing their identities completely. But now he was introducing himself as "Rhys," using the Welsh spelling when asked. The unusual spelling helped call attention to the name, and away from the man who used it, but it disconcerted Harold nonetheless. The name "John" had been the man's from before the CIA, before the dark parts of his past had really occurred. "Reese," no matter how he spelled it, had been the name Kara Stanton had chosen for him. And while Harold had understood his choice to use when they'd begun, he wasn't sure he understood why he'd chosen to use it as his first name now. 

All small changes, calculated to blur his tracks to any looking for him, for them, in the aftermath of the reboot. Harold could agree with the necessity, and admire the skill that made them, but he found the sum total of the changes unnerving. As if this man that he'd been working with, had come to tentatively call a friend, was not a man at all. As if he was some kind of mythical beast, who'd shed one skin to begin again with a fresh life. Perhaps it was hypocritical from a man who hadn't used his real name since before he could legally buy beer, but there it was. And given some time to get used to this new version of his friend, he'd adapt. 

After all, Bear still recognized him, so he couldn't have changed all that much.


End file.
